Hold a tea party, build a robot, and test your mettle with 3 new games coming to retail from XYZ Game Labs

We got another release round-up, this time from XYZ Game Labs, a relatively new Chicago-based publisher. All of the games shown here will be hitting retail this November, so be sure to visit your favorite retailer and preorder soon if you happen to be interested. Now, without further ado...

First up is Borderlands: Tiny Tina's Robot Tea Party. Designed by Adam McCrimmon, this is the tabletop game based on the hit shooter-looter franchise which prominently features many popular characters from the series, most notably Tiny Tina and Claptrap. This is a party game for 2-to-5 players where everyone will take turns playing cards to build up their Claptrap, gum up their opponents CL4P-TP units by playing mismatched parts, play surprise action cards, or a mix of the three. The first player to complete their Claptrap is the winner! It should also be noted that the game comes with a special code to be redeemed in Gearbox Software's newest release, Borderlands 3.

Second on the list is RobotLab: The Card Game. This is the new retail release of the 2017 Kickstarter version of the game. It's important to note here that RobotLab and Tiny Tina's Robot Tea Party, described above, are actually the same game, with Tiny Tina's being the more recent implementation using the Borderlands theme. There are some slight differences in the cards, and notably RobotLab requires your robot to have two legs in comparison to Claptraps single wheel. However, at the end of the day, if you're interested in this kind of game then your choice is simple - if you like Borderlands, go for Tiny Tina's, but if you want a more family-friendly version then RobotLab works better.

The last game on this release list is quite unlike the other two. Inoka is a 2-to-4 player game, designed by Noah Miller, where everyone is fighting head-to-head to find out who will be Nature's Emissary. This is done through Paper-Rock-Scissors, like many of life's difficult decisions. Each player will choose, from a hand of nine cards, 5 from among their rocks, papers, or scissors (in the game known as attacks, blocks, and taunts), and commence with a series of clashes where the player to win the most scores a point and the first to 3 points is the winner. There are king-of-the-hill-style rules for games with 3 and 4 players. For a very easy to learn game, it features some truly dazzling art on tarot-sized cards.

If you're interested in learning more about XYZ Game Labs and their products, current and future, be sure to check out their website and look out for their titles on your nearest store shelf.